The background art portions of my U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,165, granted Dec. 28, 1993, and entitled, "Rotating Gold Pan For Separating Gold Particles From Ore"; No. 5,275,294, granted Jan. 4, 1994, and entitled, "Rotating Gold Pan For Separating Gold Particles From Ore"; and No. 5,788,293, granted Aug. 4, 1998, and entitled, "Gold Pan With Agitator Knobules And Insert Cup," and my co-pending application Serial No. 08/961,588, filed Oct. 21, 1997 and entitled, "Gold Pan With Water Delivery Cups," are hereby incorporated herein by this specific reference.
The rotating gold pan assemblies disclosed by my above-identified patents and application are made to be portable. They comprise a rotating gold pan and a support frame that includes a drive motor and a drive belt and pulley system for connecting the drive motor to the gold pan. The gold pan is separable from the frame the frame is foldable to make it smaller for transportation and storage.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a gold pan/frame assembly that is smaller than the prior art gold pan assemblies.
It is further object of the invention to provide a gold pan/frame assembly that includes a rotating gold pan, a small frame and a bucket, wherein the bucket is adapted to be a carrier for the gold pan and frame and a primary part of the support structure.